Rutgers Holds off Fairfield for One-Goal Victory

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (February 22, 2014) – Rutgers (2-0) used a strong second half that saw four goals in the first eight minutes of play to take down the visiting Fairfield Stags (0-2), 6-5, Saturday afternoon at the RU Turf Field. Sophomore attacker Kim Kolodny (Farmingdale, N.Y.) scored a team-high two goals to lead the hosts, while redshirt freshman goalie Amanda Currell (Moorestown, N.J.) stopped 10 shots to earn her first career win.

Kolody and senior attacker Megan Clements (Pennington, N.J.) tied for the team-high in points, as they each recorded two. Clements scored a goal and assisted on another, while also scooping up two ground balls and controlling a draw.

Sophomore attacker Halley Barnes (Garnet Valley, Pa.) finished the day with a goal on four shots and two ground balls, while Currell also notched two ground balls. Redshirt junior midfielder Lauren Sbrilli (Martinsville, N.J.) led the squad with two caused turnovers.

Rutgers outshot the visitors by a 20-18 margin, with 14 of its shots coming in the second half alone. The Scarlet Knights also had the advantage in draw controls (8-5), with seven of the eight occurring in the second stanza as well.

After trailing 2-1 at halftime, the Scarlet Knights opened the second half with an offensive outburst, netting four goals in the first eight minutes. Clements started the rally for the hosts, scooping up the ground ball off her own initial blocked shot and finding the back of the cage to even the score at 2-2 just under four minutes into the half.

Less than a minute later, Clements assisted Kolodny for the go-ahead goal on a man-up opportunity. Junior attacker Melissa Arthur (Marlton, N.J.) added the fourth RU goal on a free position shot at 23:12, while senior attacker Katrina Martinelli (Moorestown, N.J.) connected on a free position shot at 22:35 to put the Scarlet Knights in front by three(5-2).

Rutgers would keep the visitors scoreless for the first 10 minutes of the half, until an unassisted goal by Maeve Quinn brought the visitors within two (5-3) at the 19:03 mark. Kolody notched her second score of the contest and season at 12:11 to regain the three-goal advantage for Rutgers off the dish by sophomore midfielder Chrissy Schreiber (East Meadow, N.Y.).

Fairfield threatened to come back, as Melanie Rasso and Jamie Leione scored goals at 6:45 and 2:18, respectively, but senior midfielder Sarah Mahon (Spring Lake Heights, N.J.) won the final draw after Leone's goal and RU maintained possesion for the final two minutes to secure the victory.

The Stags netted the first goal of the contest after 17 scoreless minutes, when Courtney Chmil scored following a Fairfield clear attempt at 13:11. The visitors established a 2-0 lead with 5:21 remaining in the opening frame off a score by Melanie Raso, but a free position goal by Barnes allowed Rutgers to head into the intermission trailing by only one.

Rutgers heads to Princeton on Wednesday, Feb. 26 for its first road test of the year. Game time is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.

Game Notes

- Rutgers improves to 2-0 to start the season for the sixth time in program history. The Scarlet Knights' best start to open a campaign came in 2010, when RU rattled off five victories before suffering its first loss.